The present invention relates to a ship with snow making capabilities utilizing seawater and more particularly pertains to making snow from seawater by separating brine therefrom.
When sea water freezes, it frosts out most dissolved impurities in it while turning to ice. Sea water desalting is well known in the art which includes distillation, which condenses steam from boiling sea water to make fresh water. Flash evaporation destroys sea water in a vacuum to obtain fresh water. Reverse osmosis essentially filters sea water to obtain fresh water. The present invention is a radical departure from conventional sea water desalting methods without any relationship to any existing prior art in this field.
The present invention is a snow maker installation modified to make snow from sea water on and into an ocean going vessel which separates the resulting brine from the snow back to the ocean or to an on board storage facility for later use. The snow is melted into fresh water which can be contained in bottles or other containers or in bulk for deliver to land.
The use of desalination processes is known in the prior art. More specifically, desalination processes heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of desalinating water are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,619 to Husseiny discloses a method for purification and desalination of water by freezing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,160 to Arias Mas discloses a machine for spraying sea water onto a drum for freezing thereby creating ice flakes for use on a fishing ship. U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,015 to Oliver discloses a desalination process involving both freezing and pressure stages. U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,491 and 4,166,363 both to Mougin each show means for maintaining polls on icebergs, used as a supply of fresh water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,731 to Horan discloses a means to create an artificial iceberg by spraying fresh water in a sub zero climate, for transport of fresh water.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a ship with snow making capabilities utilizing seawater for making snow from seawater by separating brine therefrom.
In this respect, the ship with snow making capabilities utilizing seawater according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of making snow from seawater by separating brine therefrom.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved ship with snow making capabilities utilizing seawater which can be used for making snow from seawater by separating brine therefrom. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.